A/N: Thanks for the reviews! I've decided to carry on.

Warning: Contains huge plot twist. Trust me. I wrote it.

It's pretty short, but it's good.

R&R please!

So, without further delay…

Lost In Past

Chapter 2

Lyra

Lyra was at the party. She was there, and also … elsewhere. The noise escaped her. She had this terrible feeling inside. After what she had done she had changed. She was a different person. When she had gone away to Mrs. Coulter from Jordan, she had been like the kids around her. Now… she was so different. She didn't fit in. She felt like a tiny light, glowing red while all others glowed blue.

Even those who return from war never truly come home…

All their games seemed meaningless. All their talk seemed babyish and stupid. Their lives seemed boring. She looked at them and looked at herself. None of them could possibly know…

She didn't fit. She had become part of a different jigsaw. And it scared her.

She walked over to the door. And silently, slowly, walked back to her dormitory.

And although she had turned seventeen a few months ago, she felt like she was 70.

Iorek

Iorek Byrnison was at his bear kingdom. The palaces had been torn down, bears were behaving like bears and the ice had stopped melting. It was all good. Except for a band of bears that had appeared recently. People had taken them in, but Iorek was wiser. He could easily tell that there was something wrong. When he was walking to his sleeping area, a single bear came out. Then another and another.

They suddenly leaped out and slashed him. He bit down on one, who disappeared and then reappeared as a bird, which flew away.

He was outnumbered and slowly let his death take him away.

A boatman appeared and he began to tell Iorek to go. He said

" You must go back. Tell Will."

And then he had been yanked to Will's world, still completely confused and injured.

Will

Will was on his way. 1:00 in the morning and he was still running, his energy depleted but still running and running and running. He was running to Mary's flat by pure chance, and didn't notice the Armoured Bear, completely out of place. Running alongside him. Iorek.

Only when he stopped did he see Iorek. And then he gasped.

Iorek gazed at Will and knew he was in Will's world.

" I'm dead." Said Iorek. " Those things killed me. My own people."

" I died. But… how did I come to be here?"

Will wasn't thinking about that. Will was wondering if there was still another gateway open.

Then he noticed the huge gash that Iorek had across his neck. He was bleeding. And this time, he had no bloodmoss.

Iorek was dying.

Iorek was right. He should have died. But he had come here for a reason. Before he died, he had to tell Will something. He knew he had to tell him what had happened to him.

He told him.

He told him of the new bears, how he had not trusted them. How they had sneaked up on him. How they had outnumbered him and left him for dead. And then the worse part to tell. He had been headed for the world of the dead and then pulled back. And that came to here.

After this, he spoke his final words.

"Goodbye. Goodbye. Goodbye Will Parry. Goodbye Armoured Bears. Goodbye Lyra Silvertounge. May you all live long."

And then his death took him away. Took him to the world of the dead.

Mary

Mary Malone lay deep in thought, early in the morning. She could see her daemon, affectionately called Chinan (after China) without even having to try. Now that wasn't why she was worried. She was worried because of what had just happened. In her sleep, she had had a dream. But not an ordinary dream. She was with the mulefa. Their lush land was changed since she had last seen it. Hundreds of Wheel-pod trees were growing. A single zalif whom she did not recognize spoke out to her.

" The mulefa's problems have been solved. We owe you eternal gratitude. But we fear one thing. We have discovered a race called the-"

The zalif was cut off by a large bird flying through the air. A seagull. It screeched loudly. She could barely make out anything over the screeches.

" They intend to destro------ dividuality and ---telligence and love. ------- Stopped. ---- Ill and Lyra --- Only you----- before --- too late.-----Important------ange."

Slowly, the colour faded to black. Then, that too faded.

She scrawled down what she had heard when she woke up.

She had filled in most of the gaps. What she now had was:

"The mulefa's problems have been solved. We owe you eternal gratitude. But we fear one thing. We have discovered a race called the---- They intend to destroy individuality and intelligence and love. They Must be(?) stopped. ---Will and Lyra. --- Only you can save(?)—Before it's too late. ----- Important. ---- change." She was uncertain about some, but then again, it could all be wrong. It had been 5 years since she had spoken to a zalif.

But then she imagined a world without any individuality. Without any intelligence. Without any love.

And then a thought came into her head.

" I have to save China…" she whispered.